I’ve only recently started being honest with people when I’m asked what my major is. I’m a junior, studying acting and communications, and for the past two years, whenever a stranger would ask me my major, I’d always answer accounting, business, or marketing. Anything people would hear that would prevent their immediate response from being, “Oh. What are you going to do with that?” It’s only until very recently that I have started to come to terms with the fact that uncertainty is okay and begun to foster a healthy relationship between me and my major.Â
The term “post-grad” is sort of a trigger word to me because my major has been anything but linear since I’ve enrolled in college. I grew up acting onstage and when applying to schools, I was never really given any guidance on how to pick a major. I never considered what could make me the most amount of money or what is most practical, so I chose theater as my major— as early as I can remember, acting has always been my strong suit and passion. After the first semester of freshman year, my dad (and several of my peers) revealed my major was useless. From there on, I fell down a rabbit hole of anxiety and impending doom. I was desperately looking to change my major to something more practical, but didn’t know which steps to take. I was interested in the Peace Corp, so I decided to change my major to International Affairs during my second semester freshman year. I enjoyed my entry level classes but never really felt certainty in what I was doing or if attending CU was the right choice. Then, in April of freshman year, my best friend died, and from there, the rest of the school year was a blur. My mind was scattered and at the end of April, I decided on a whim to audition for the BFA Acting program.Â
My sophomore year, I returned to CU, despite the doubts I had prior to the death of my best friend. Though I loved my acting classes, my dad was very adamant about me returning home. My sophomore year felt like a mental battle between staying in Colorado and doing what I loved or going home and starting over. In an attempt to appease my family, I decided on moving back home and studying accounting. It wasn’t until the second semester of my sophomore year that I was beginning to find success in myself and my major–– I was finding work in commercials, my current job at the time was going well, and I was starting to feel more like myself after such a devastating loss. I was granted permission to stay in Boulder and was planning to transfer into accounting in the first semester of junior year, but after meeting with my advisor, I found out majoring in accounting would only be possible if I intended to take 2+ extra years of school, which I could not afford. Feeling stuck, I added a communications minor and continued to pursue my BFA in acting.Â
Now as a junior, I thank God everyday that I am studying something I love. I love my classes and I feel proud to tell people my area of study. Since I’ve stuck with my major, I’ve been able to seize opportunities that would’ve never arisen if I had transferred. I’ve worked with someone who travels internationally to teach theatre to disabled children, starred and made good money from commercials, and established connections that have allowed me to act in short films. I’ve been able to apply myself in the theatre in ways other than acting, and I am currently working as a media intern for the CU Women’s Hockey Team.Â
As I have continued to embrace my major and put myself out there, opportunities have arisen left and right. The contingency of life is terrifying and because of it, we as people have learned to stigmatize our passions as useless. Though I don’t know what the future holds, I know I am capable of doing great things regardless of what I study. No major is useless. It is the love of the pursuit of knowledge that incentivizes us to chase what we are passionate about. Whether acting is or is not a part of my career, my degree has never been a waste of time because I’ve grown as a learner in a field I love and have picked up valuable skills along the way. Throughout this process of uncertainty, I’ve also grown to love myself more. I am an actor, and there is nothing wrong with that.Â
